[How To] Windows 7 Dynamic Start Menu

[deano]

Hi,

 

I have posted this message several times and there are quite a few threads on here that cover the topic of redirected start menus based on what is installed. All of these threads have covered the use of scripts used at logon that would basically remove the icons that do not work. These scripts will work with some tweaking to your network setup, but the area that I wished to get working was through Group Policy Preferences.

 

I know that there are some users on here that have successfully implemented a setup using GPP, but there doesent seem to be any documentation of this even through Google. So below are my steps required to get my method of dynamic start menus through GPP based on whats installed. Please feel free to improve my method if you see flaws, I only got it working 10 minutes before I left for home today

 

 

1. First step, we will be creating a local folder on the system drive of the workstation as this improves the speed of the start menu setup. You could use the start menu from a UNC path, but I found this to be very laggy whilst logging on.

 

To do this step, I created a simple startup script. The script contains one line, and that is MD C:\StartMenu. This will create a folder on the C:\ of the workstation called StartMenu and will be used as the location for the dynamic start menu.

 

2. Now we need to create or amend the current GPO for folder redirection. Set the Start Menu redirection property to redirect all users to the following location, which is c:\startmenu.

 

3. Create a new GPO, which will be used for the GPP settings. Set this GPO in your user ou along with the folder redirection GPO

 

4. Now we need to add the settings to the GPO we have just created. Edit the GPO and go into User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Shortcuts

 

Within here you need to create a new shortcut with the following settings. (note. The shortcut I will be creating here is for Adobe Photoshop that will be within a folder in the startmenu called Adobe CS5. Also, I recommend that this GPO is edited on a workstation with RSAT installed so we can point it to the correct shortcut)

 

Select the option to Create

Enter the name as follows - C:\StartMenu\Programs\Adobe CS5\Adobe Photoshop CS5

Change the Target Type to Shell Object

Leave the Location as the default ()

To set the target object, navigate to the exe that you wish to link to. Once you have found the exe, click OK.

Now, you would normally set the option from the common tab for remove the item when no longer applied, hoping it will remove the icon when it cannot find the exe. Unlucky, it does not work like this, especially if you have roaming profiles. Leave this option off.

Now you can set Item Level Targeting at this point if you wish to restrict access to a specific shortcut. For example, SIMS .net needs to hidden from students. Select ITL and then point to a security group etc.

 

5. Now you have your first shortcut setup, it will be to the particular OS architecture you set the shortcut up on. If you require different architectures, you will need to create a separate shortcut to each program for the two different OS types due to the Program Files (x86)

 

6. Now we need to resolve the issue of the shortcut remaining in the roaming profile. To do this, edit the GPP GPO you have just created and add another shortcut as above in step 4. This time we copy shortcut you have just created.

 

Set the option to delete and select the item level targeting under the common tab. From here, select New Item > File Match. For the option, use the file path to the shortcut of photoshop exe. You will also need to change the Item Options and select Is Not. Now when the shortcut for Adobe cannot be found, it will delete it.

 

That it, your start menu is created. It will be a manual process of creating all the shortcuts along with the delete shortcuts, but well worth it in the end! One thing to note is if you allow Switch User, as this will allow students to see staff shortcuts if the student allows the staff member to logon. To resolve this, I think the only way will be to create two folders. One will be for staff and one for students, we just need to amend the redirection policy.

 

Hope you find this helpful and I will let you know if I find any more tweaks regarding this!